ANZ sends another 70 jobs offshore

ANZ Bank will cut 70 jobs from its Australian operations and replace the staff with workers in India, as banks continue to shrink their workforces in a push to reduce costs.

The bank has advised staff that it will be making the cuts in its wealth division, and most of the cuts will affect back-office positions in Sydney.

The job cuts come come as banks continue to reduce staff numbers, in a bid to sustain profits in the face of low demand for credit from consumers.

‘‘These changes reflect the need to simplify our business given the more subdued economic environment and to ensure our customers are supported with specialist back-office capabilities,’’ an ANZ spokesman said.

It comes after ANZ last year cut about 1000 jobs in back-office and middle management roles in response to weaker conditions.

The Finance Sector Union said it had been told by ANZ that the off-shoring plan will affect 131 positions but the bank would redeploy about 60 of these people into other roles. ANZ disputes this, saying the 60 people would remain in their current roles.

The National Secretary of the Finance Sector Union, Leon Carter, said there had now been 500 positions ‘‘offshored’’ in the sector during the first few months of 2013.

“We are not even two months into the year, and already 500 finance jobs have been offshored. Is it any wonder that finance workers are feeling increasingly concerned about their future?” he said.

Mr Carter slammed the job cuts as excessive at a time when ANZ was on track to post a record profit this year.

ANZ last week recorded a 6.2 per cent annual profit growth in the December quarter, handing down cash earnings of $1.53 billion on Friday.